The Crown Princess visits Piteå

Motiv: The Crown Princess arrives at Skogberget, located in Markbygden near Piteå. To the left of The Crown Princess is Installation Manager Isak Lindqvist, and to the right is CEO, owner and founder of Seavind Wolfgang Kropp. Photo: royalcourt.se

On Wednesday 13 November, The Crown Princess visited Piteå to find out about the latest developments in renewable energy. The visit was hosted by Piteå Municipal Commissioner Peter Roslund and County Governor of Norrbotten County Sven-Erik Österberg.

Tour of Skogberget

The day began with a visit to Skogberget, located in Markbygden near Piteå. During the coach journey to Skogsberget, CEO, owner and founder of Seavind Wolfgang Kropp spoke about the project, which is the company's largest. The entire project involves 1,101 wind turbines, around 4,000 MW with a production output of 10-12 TWh. Permission has currently been granted for 314 turbines, and the construction of Skogberget is in full swing. The first 36 wind turbines are expected to be commissioned by the end of 2013. Once the facility has been completed, the 1,101 wind turbines will represent 8 percent of Sweden's energy consumption. At Skogberget, The Crown Princess was given a guided tour of the wind farm by Installation Manager Isak Lindqvist.

The Crown Princess is hoisted up to a height of 138 metres, the same height as the wind turbines. Photo: royalcourt.se

The Crown Princess with representatives from the wind farm project in Markbygden. Photo: royalcourt.se

During the visit to Skogberget, The Crown Princess was hoisted up in a crane cradle to get a sense of the height of one of the wind turbines and a view of the wind farm. The height of the wind turbine is 138 metres up to the hub. The blades reach up to a height of 200 metres.

The Crown Princess is hoisted up to the same height as the wind turbines. Photo: royalcourt.se

Lunch was served at the wind farm, where The Crown Princess had the opportunity to meet representatives from the project, including staff from Seavind and Enercon.

Solander Science Park

After lunch, the coach continued towards Solander Science Park. Anna Mård, Project Manager at Solander Science Park, spoke about the park, which began operations in 2008 and is a centre for research, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Today, Solander Science Park has a large biorefinery development environment where universities, research institutes and businesses come together to develop new products and solutions using forest raw materials. Under the heading of "Sweden's oil reserves", CEO of Sunpine Magnus Edin explained that the world's only pine diesel production plant is located in Piteå. Knowledge, experience and players from the entire chain from forest to tank have made it possible to progress from laboratory to profitable business in just a few years.

Tord Gustafsson, owner of Blatraden/Melodea, spoke on the subject "Wood is stronger than steel". In addition to fuel, forest raw materials can also be used to produce composites and chemicals. Exciting developments within this field include the production of carbon fibre from lignin and nanocrystalline cellulose materials, as well as fibre composite products.

Tord Gustafsson, owner of Blatraden/Melodea, speaks about modern materials that can be produced using forest raw materials, including fibre composite products. Photo: royalcourt.se

Daniel Fåhraeus, CEO of PiteEnergi, talked about solar energy in northern Sweden. Piteå has 2,000 hours of sunshine per year, compared with 2,100 for Melbourne in Australia. PiteEnergi's test solar farm has shown that solar energy can be generated just as effectively in northern Sweden as in southern Europe. Even snow has proven to have a positive impact, thanks to its excellent reflectivity.

The Crown Princess learns about control room operations at the DME plant. Photo: royalcourt.se

Rikard Gebart, Director of Research at Luleå University of Technology (LTU), concluded by describing research into biofuel. LTU Green Fuels is one of the world's most advanced pilot facilities for the gasification of various bioproducts for synthesis gas and green fuels. The focus is on replacing fossil oil with green fuels. The day ended with The Crown Princess being given a tour of the bioDME plant.